3 Stocks Set To Soar

The stock market reached record highs in 2020, and that has investors hungry to find the next big investment to pad their portfolios. It’s a different market in 2021 though – vaccines are making their way to the public, and the economy is reopening while government stimulus funds run dry.

Some companies are struggling to find customers, while others have a hard time keeping up with the influx of traffic. Yesterday’s successes don’t always translate into tomorrow. Here are a handful of stocks set to soar if tailwinds continue for them.

Ozon Is Russia’s Answer To Amazon

Ozon Holdings PLC – ADR (NASDAQ:OZON) is Russia’s answer to Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN). The ecommerce company founded in 1998 also runs an online travel booking site with its namesake, along with Litres, the country’s largest online bookstore.

The company raised $990 million in its November 2020 initial public offering (IPO) on the Nasdaq exchange. This was 10 percent over the recommended price, but shares still grew 40 percent within the first day.

It’s the largest Russian listing since 2017 and confirmed investor confidence that growth would continue. Big ETFs in the region are banking on the company following in the footsteps of Amazon (AMZN) and Alibaba (BABA) to continue growing as the ecommerce rush gains even further traction.

But that’s not an easy road, as Alibaba’s Jack Ma found out when Chinese regulators cracked down on his plans for Ant Financial. Ozon investors weren’t immune to a cold stock market winter that took many dips as investors chilled and waited for more government stimulus assistance rollouts.

Still, the company began the year strong and returned to an upward trajectory. Russia is one of the hardest hit countries from the coronavirus pandemic. It started the year with an estimated 3.34 million COVID-19 cases causing over 60,000 deaths.

While cold winter months ravage the Siberian region, people continue leaning on e-commerce to get by. And the company was already in what it calls a “hypergrowth” stage in 2019 heading into the outbreak. Sales that year nearly doubled to $1.1 billion as the company experienced a record year.

Like Amazon (AMZN), it also expanded beyond e-commerce into supply chain logistics and small business investments. It worked hard to cap prices and maintain market regularity during the panic shopping at the onset too.

This could be a strong contender for the next decade, especially with Alibaba facing antitrust heat.

Regulatory Change Favors DraftKings

Draftkings Inc (NASDAQ:DKNG) launched its IPO in 2019 with a market valuation of over $6 billion.

It earned that investor interest because of its exposure in the online sports betting industry. This opened a lane for the fantasy sports platform to pivot into a cash cow market size estimated at $85 billion in 2019 alone.

This is because the United States Supreme Court struck down the Professional Amateur Sports Protection Act in 2018. The law set federal guidelines that stopped states from enacting their own laws regarding sports betting.

Once that law dropped, fantasy sports skyrocketed. There were 45.9 million fantasy sports players in the U.S. over the age of 18 in 2019. That market alone is expected to reach nearly $50 billion by 2027, and it’s a relatively easy sell to convert those paying customers into online sports betting.

These market conditions grew the company quickly during the coronavirus pandemic, and it started 2021 with a market capitalization well over $20 billion.

DraftKings Chief Financial Officer Jason Park says the legalization of sports betting is spreading across the U.S. As that happens, the company’s data-focused approach targets its marketing toward professional sports leagues to gain its user base.

Fantasy sports and sports betting are two distinct industries that the company draws revenue from. It also offers casino games and other forms of iGaming that open it up to broader audiences.

Keep in mind, however, that these are considered vice industries. They were banned in many regions for a reason. The greater exposure to revenue streams also gives DraftKings greater exposure to the associated risks of operating an online casino.

Investors should keep a careful eye on evolving regulatory trends and the company’s balance sheet debt levels. This gives a more clear picture of its chances for success down the road.

Triterras Marketplace Leverages Blockchain

Triterras Inc (NASDAQ:TRIT) is part of a growing trend of blockchain-based businesses gaining market share in the 2020s. The company’s Kratos marketplace launched in June 2019 to enable commodities trading and lending using blockchain technology.

Unlike Arizona Iced Tea, Triterras has an actual blockchain, and the Kratos platform reported over $6.6 billion in transaction volume in July 2020. Its monthly transaction volume hit $420 million that year.

Bitcoin’s second meteoric price increase fueled even further growth for the company by the end of the year. By the time 2021 started, it was a $1 billion company with share prices trading over 30 percent higher than before the pandemic.

Financial technology is a hot investment for 2021. The pandemic crippled traditional financial companies like Wells Fargo (WFC) and Mastercard (MA). Meanwhile, fintech companies like PayPal (PYPL) and Square (SQ), as well as Bitcoin saw exponential gains.

This could signal a shift in money value away from fiat and into crypto currencies. But that’s not the bread-and-butter behind Triterras, which bills itself as “the Amazon of Blockchain.” Its true potential lies in its underlying blockchain technology.

Distributed digital ledgers are a secure way to track financial transactions. They’re being used for artwork, legal documentation, and even commodities and securities investments. Triterras hopes to be at the start of a growing business, and its investors could reap huge rewards if it is.

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The author has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Financhill has a disclosure policy. This post may contain affiliate links or links from our sponsors.